Chris Froome’s Tour de France preparations have been rocked by a doping investigation. Pic: GettySource:AFP

MORE than 30,000 security agents will be deployed for the Tour de France, organisers said Wednesday after the head of world cycling cited threats of violence and called for a safe environment for British rider Chris Froome.

The world’s biggest cycling race starts on Saturday, just days after four-time champion Froome was cleared of doping suspicions by the International Cycling Union (UCI), headed by David Lappartient.

In a post on his Twitter account, Lappartient denounced calls for ‘violence’ during the three-week event while the French government said that it would deploy all means necessary to guarantee security.

Great Britain's Christopher Froome (C) trains with his Team Sky cycling team teammates on July 4, 2018 in Saint-Mars-la-Reorthe, western France, three days prior to the start of the 105th edition of the Tour de France. Picture: AFP PHOTOSource:AFP

“I have heard calls, sometimes completely irrational, to violence on the Tour de France,” said Lappartient.

“I cannot accept that and I call on all spectators to protect all the athletes and to respect the judicial decision so that Chris Froome can compete in a safe and serene environment like all other athletes.”

Tour de France security chief Pierre-Yves Thouault told AFP that he shared Lappartient’s concerns but was ready to unleash a huge security operation to police the 10 to 12 million fans expected to turn up to watch the race this year.

“There will be 23,000 police and 6,000 firemen,” Thouault said, adding that several thousand private security agents would also be deployed.

“We are concerned with mountain top finishes.

“But we will not be focusing more on one team than on any other,” he said, mentioning one notorious mountain stretch of the three-week Tour.

A lot of the anger that's currently being directed at Chris Froome might be better aimed at UCI and esp WADA for using a test that they can't defend.

“The top section of the Alpe d’Huez will have more than 3.5km of railing on either side,” he said of the climb notorious for attracting huge unruly crowds where punches have been thrown, and urine splashed on competitors including Froome.

“We’ll have several hundred officers on that hill, we know how it can be,” he said, stressing that communications between security officers was the key to safety alongside multilingual signs.

Kenyan-born Froome, 33, is a favourite to win his fifth Tour de France after he was cleared to ride following the conclusion of a probe into an abnormal test sample during the Vuelta a Espana last year.

He recorded an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for salbutamol, an asthma medication, meaning he exceeded the allowed dose of a permitted substance.

“I feel the need to say to cycling lovers, to lovers of the Tour de France, that the decision that was taken (to drop the case against Froome) was taken on the basis of reports from experts which led the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to consider that no violation of anti-doping rules had taken place,” Lappartient said.

But Froome said Wednesday he had little to fear from the French public. “I just raced the Giro in May with the salbutamol thing hanging over me and nothing happened there,” he said.

“My advice to anyone who doesn’t like Chris Froome or doesn’t like Sky is to come and watch the race with some other shirt, of someone you do like, and support the Tour in that way.” Froome is out to emulate five-time winners Hinault, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain when he competes for a fifth win in the three-week Tour.

A win would also make Froome the first man to win a Giro-Tour de France double in the same season for twenty years.

Chris Froome has asked Tour de France fans to let him race in peace, even if they doubt the recent ruling that cleared him of doping allegations.

The British cyclist has been targeted by spectators in the past. During the 2015 Tour, he said a man threw a cup of urine at him while yelling “doper”. With the latest edition beginning on Saturday, five days after the International Cycling Union finally ruled Froome had won last year’s Spanish Vuelta cleanly, the four-time Tour winner offered an alternative way for sceptical fans to show their distrust.

“Support the race in a positive way, don’t bring negativity,” he said on Wednesday in western France. “In terms of safety I obviously would encourage fans of the sport to come watch the race, and if you are not necessarily a Chris Froome fan or a Sky fan, come to the race and put a jersey on of another team you do support. That would be my advice.” A cloud hung over Froome after a urine sample taken during the Vuelta in September showed a concentration of the asthma drug salbutamol that was twice the permitted level.

After months of silence, the UCI said Froome’s result did not represent an adverse finding, which could have led him to be stripped of his Vuelta victory, and a suspension.

The UCI’s ruling ensured he could compete at the Tour after race organiser ASO had informed Team Sky it would forbid Froome from entering until the doping case was decided.

His use of asthma medication has been well documented and he often uses inhalers during races. World Anti-Doping Agency rules state an athlete can be cleared for excessive salbutamol use if he proves it was due to an appropriate therapeutic dosage.

Froome said he understands it may take time for fans to believe he is not a cheat.

“But that data is available, and I would like to think that as people understand that more, they will understand my decision to keep on racing knowing I have certainly done nothing wrong,” Froome said. “Of course it has been damaging. As it is right now I’m just happy to draw a line in the sand and move on and focus on bike racing.”